Donors pledge billions for Haiti aid

UNITED NATIONS, (Reuters) – International donors  met yesterday to pledge some $4 billion to Haiti, launching  a worldwide effort to rebuild the country after January’s  shattering earthquake.

“What we envision today is wholesale national renewal,”  United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, opening a  one-day conference of some 120 countries, international  organizations and aid agencies.

Ban called for quick donations in response to a U.N.  request for $1.4 billion in immediate humanitarian assistance  for Haiti, which even before the Jan. 12 earthquake was the  poorest country in the western hemisphere.

So far, the request has only been half funded, fueling  fears that the rainy season will compound the disaster for some  1.2 million Haitians left homeless by the disaster.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, co-host of  yesterday’s meeting, said the United States would pledge $1.15  billion for long-term recovery, which she said must be planned  and executed by Haiti’s government.

“We also have to pledge our best efforts to do better  ourselves, to offer our support in a smarter way, a more  effective way that produces real results for the people of  Haiti,” Clinton said.

Clinton was joined on the dais by her husband, former U.S.  President Bill Clinton, the U.N. special envoy for Haiti who  will coordinate relief efforts for the country.

The U.N. meeting seeks to raise funds for a Haitian  government recovery plan that includes decentralizing the  economy to create jobs and wealth outside Port-au-Prince, the  capital of some 4 million people.

Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said his  government, which saw all but one of its ministries destroyed,  had a vision for Haiti’s future but needed help.

“The resources must be available. That’s why we ask in our  plan for budgetary support of $350 million for the next six  months so we can face up to our responsibilities,” he said.

Aid agencies say the task is huge. Haiti, already the  poorest country in the western hemisphere, suffered as many as  300,000 people killed in the magnitude 7.0 earthquake, which  crippled the government and caused damage estimated at between  $8 and $14 billion.

In the crowded, squalid quake survivors’ camps of  Port-au-Prince, thousands clamored yesterday for basic  necessities. Overnight rains have soaked fragile shelters and  turned dusty alleyways to mud.

“We need water, food, toilets, healthcare, light and tents  — shelter,” said Silverin Nono, elected leader of a camp that  has mushroomed into being on a barren, refuse-strewn hillside  called Bas-Canaan north of the city.

Ban said the new Haitian Recovery Commission would aim to  channel $3.9 billion into programs in the next 18 months,  launching a broader project to improve basic health,  sanitation, education and housing services.

The World Bank group, which will manage reconstruction  funds, said it would make $79 million available through June  2011, including the total cancellation of Haiti’s remaining  World Bank debt.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick said it was crucial  that donors coordinate efforts to avoid producing “islands of  development in a sea of deprivation.”